Toronto Beat

Saskatchewan???

Never!!!

Some pumpkin-head came pretty close to eating crow yesterday!

Well it wasn't pretty folks.  In fact, at times it was down-right ugly.  One minute, the defense blocks a kick (AWESOME!), the next, Bishop throws an interception (not so awesome).  Yet, somehow,  the Riders managed to end the regular season with a win.

We were at the game last night.  We looked quite dapper all decked out in green.  You know what didn't look good?? The defense. They made Joseph's job easy.   Today, I keep thinking of that awesome Future Shop commercial (click here to view) where Kerry Joseph says, "How many interceptions did I throw last week?? 0."  That's right, 0.  How many did Bishop throw?? That's right, 4.  At least we were able to capitalize on errors.

Joseph (#4) getting ready to throw a "completed" pass.

There were a lot of Rider fans there (including Maurice Lloyd's family and kids -- sitting two rows down from us).  Our entire section was filled with Rider fans (the main exception being the guy sitting next to Neil who deserves some kind of Argos Fan Award as he was awesome... cheered loudly for his team, yet was respectful and took being in the Visitor's section all in stride).  Very different from our last game at BC Place, where N and I watched as Rider fans had to be re-seated by security due to the jackassery of Lion's fans who took the taunting a bit too far. I can tell you one thing, I cannot stand the Lions or the Stamps so I respectfully refuse to cheer for either of them on Saturday.  I know a Stamps win gives the Riders a home playoff game but I don't care (after all -- it's not like I can be there -- and I have never claimed to be unselfish).  I will watch and remain completely unmoved.  If the Riders are going to go far in the playoffs they are going to have to get past both of these teams (with at least one game being on the road) and I for one, hope they CRUSH them both and return for a repeat appearance in the Grey Cup.  The fact that I have Grey Cup tickets has no bearing on that at all - ha ha!

If anything, being surrounded by Rider fans got N and I more pumped up for Grey Cup.  We have our tickets, we've rented a sweet condo/apartment for our time in Montreal.  I cannot wait!!!  

One final note:

While no one will ever claim that the Argos have the league's most passionate fans, the Argos organization did not have to play "taped" crowd noise like they did in the "den" of the Lion's.  Also, Pinball Clemons made a few appearances - one a pre-taped message... "this is my team."  He is simply amazing -- his speech gave me goosebumps.  A great speaker and a class act!  The Argos are lucky to have such a great ambassador for their team.

As a "supply" teacher, you go where you are needed.  You can be called months, weeks, days or even minutes in advance and you need to get your butt in gear and get to the job.  Since being hired here in TO, I have always been lucky to be booked solidly, sometimes days and weeks in advance.  I get the odd day that comes months in advance... but for the most part I'm usually booked up no more than a week or two in advance.  Calls can come in the evenings between 6-10 or in the morning between 6-noon.  I ALWAYS get called in the evening.  Always.  Being the organizational freak that I am, as soon as possible (which is sometimes hours later as I am sometimes out and about when the calls come) I will log the necessary information like: date, school, times, teacher into my google calendar. 

Enter yesterday.  My trusty google calendar said that I needed to be at a school in Richmond Hill for 8:45.  That's a lovely 40 minute commute from my home.  So by 7:45 (because you can never predict rush hour traffic) I was in my car and off to work.  Well I arrive by 8:30, traffic being pretty reasonable.  I saunter into the office to find out where to go.  To say they were surprised to see me is an understatement.  I was a wee bit early for my job on Thursday November 20, 2008 --> not Thursday October 23, 2008.  Yes, I had obviously logged the information into the wrong month... whoopsies!  Feeling like a total idiot, I leave -- tail between my legs and march back to my car where I then call into the call-out system to confirm that I am an idiot.  "Yes", it confirmed.  I must have been totally off my rocker when I accepted this job as on Thursday November 20th I will be boarding a plane to Montreal for Grey Cup -- so I will have to cancel this job anyway -- ahhh the flexibility to create my own work schedule being one of the many perks to not having a contract position.  So I'm sitting there in my car dumb-founded by my complete mental lapse and then I start fuming.... I should have had a call this morning for a new job alerting me to this error!   Bah!! There have been very few days with no calls so far this year (with the exception of the first week of September) -- of course today would be the day for a work slow down.  Arghh!!!  

Rattled, I head for home.  Now, I always drive against the flow of traffic when I commute from TO out to the burbs for work.  The drive from the burbs to TO during rush hour was enough for me to comtemplate suicide.  Seriously folks, people do this everyday.  Thank God, I DO NOT!  It was horrible.  It took me well over an hour to get home and the kicker???  Just as I'm pulling into my underground parking spot, I get a work call for the afternoon.  My round trip (for nothing) this lovely morning had had me in the car for approximately 2.5 hours and I was supposed to turn around and head back out to the burbs for the PM????  F$%# that!!!!  I literally slammed my cell shut, started cursing my luck and took the day off.  Which in the end, gave me a super long weekend because today is PA day and schools are out. 

Keeping with the tone of the day (dumb, in case you forgot), that evening, N and I ventured out for supper.  Rather than subway downtown we decided to drive to a newly opened Jack Astor's a ways north of us and it was terrible.  It was a terrible drive there.  It was terrible service and it was terrible food. 

Then, coming home, we witnessed what must be one of the most daringly dumb driving techniques we have ever seen... and this says something because Toronto drivers suck and are the biggest jerks you will ever encounter on the road.  I was in the left most lane, the taxi driver in the right most lane.  Both of us were stopped at a red light.  Seeing that there was a hole in traffic going through the green light, the taxi decids to turn left, from the right most lane on a red light.  What an ass!  I feel the need to graphically show the insanity of this again so I went into photoshop to create the following:

Had the light turned green, I might have hit the idiot as I am not usually looking for taxis turning left in front of me.  

In summary, what a dumb day!

Another Thanksgiving has passed and once again I got out of having to cook a turkey!!  I really wish I could embrace my domestic side but alas it is not meant to be!  My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece all made the trek to Toronto for the long weekend.  They were more than happy to enjoy a few days of a spectacularly beautiful Ontario autumn.  Have a peek for yourself -- what would you choose:  a stunning sunshine-filled day walking along the banks of Lake Ontario or shoveling the snow off the driveway??  I know what I'd pick!

Yikes!  Time flies.  I haven't posted in a while because I have been pretty busy.  I was expecting a very lax September and that was not in the cards for me.  The past few days I have been so sick... bleh... sinus cold.  I spent my entire weekend in complete and utter agony.  I restlessly slept through it.  Here we are, at the start of a new week, and I can't breathe.  My throat is dry and itchy.  And to top it off, the class I'm covering for the next few days will do nothing but ensure my throat gets more and more agitated.  School, kids, germs -- bleh.  

N's family is in town at the end of the week for the Thanksgiving weekend.  I guess this means I have to cook a turkey.  Anyone have any recipe suggestions?  

My newest nephew is in the hospital (ICU)... he gave everyone a bit of a scare but seems to be doing better from what I hear.  We are hoping that all is well and cannot wait to meet him when we head to Regina for Christmas. 

We were glad to see that the Riders managed to eek out a win last week (ok - I didn't actually see it -- being sick -- I feel asleep somewhere in the first quarter -- but I'm still happy they won).  N and I bought tickets to the game here in TO at the end of October so you'll have to watch for us on TV.  We'll be sporting the green and white. 

I saw this commercial on TV the other day and it made me smile.  Gotta love that Kerry Joseph.  Check it out:

Well, I don't know how cohesive this post is but it knocks something (albeit something not very important) off my to do list.  Why is it that the not very important things are always the easiest to complete??  

Born Friday September 26, 2008